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Brookline’s Zero Emissions Advisory Board decided Tuesday night to recommend that the Select Board change the town’s net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target from 2040 to 2050, in compliance with Massachusetts’ goal. Still an “irrational” goal, according to board Chair Nick Caramello. 

Brookline is a progressive Massachusetts town with a median home value of $1 million. It has passed several bills in favor of climate action in the past decade.

Alexandra Vecchio, the town’s director of sustainability and natural resources, said this change will lower the overall expenses of achieving net-zero emissions, bringing down expected taxpayers’ costs. 

Also included in the delay is the electrification of Brookline homes — converting gas appliances such as heating and stoves to electric alternatives.

Jennie Greene, a 52-year-old Brookline homeowner, said her town isn’t “particularly tax averse” and had further questions. 

“I guess the devil's in the details, right?,” Greene said. Pushback, she said, would be understandable when weighing taxes and renovation requirements of homeowners. 

While it's not possible to bring greenhouse gas emissions to a complete zero, the net-zero goal aims to reduce emissions to the amount than can be absorbed or offset back each year.

“The real goal is to just get rid of all the gases,” said Advisory Board Chair Nick Caramello. “But there’s a recognition you might not be able to do that.” 

Massachusetts also has a net-zero goal, set in December 2022, for the Commonwealth to emit no more greenhouse gas that it can remove by 2050. 

Brookline passed a resolution a year and a half before the state to create and adopt a Climate Crisis Plan outlining a goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. 

The board unanimously agreed that aligning with Massachusetts’ target year will increase Brookline’s chances of success, as the state’s awarded grants are projected for the 2050 timeline.

The Select Board commissioned the formation of the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan — described by Vecchio as “Brookline’s next strategic document that will determine our priorities for climate mitigation.” Scheduled for release this spring, this document will outline the town’s steps for and analyze the feasibility of achieving net-zero emissions in Brookline by both 2040 and 2050. 

Caramello said the change doesn’t hold much significance because 2040 and 2050 are both widely aspirational. Any goal, he said, only tells the public that the town cares about their goal.

“It means something from a marketing perspective, so it means it’s important whether people recognize that this is urgent,” Caramello said while also mentioning he was against changing the year as a whole. “Everything we’re trying to do is very difficult — we have to lean into that,” he said. 

John Bowman, a Town Meeting member in Precinct 10 and board member of Climate Action Brookline, agreed in an email, saying setting a goal year “helps make people aware of the urgency of the problem.” 

Board member Vikram Aggarwal agreed, saying if actions are implemented today, impacts wouldn’t be observed for 20 more years. 

Board member Patricia Correa said the change is “politically palatable” and could garner more support for the board’s long-term climate objectives. 

John Bowman said the board’s recommendation “highlights the fact that Brookline, like other municipalities, states, the U.S., and most countries, lacks the political will to do what is needed to avert the developing global climate disaster.”

The board also discussed its upcoming implementation of the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Policy , a proposed plan that would require commercial buildings to comply with emission limits or pay a fee for continued use of greenhouse gas. 

Similar policies are already in place in Boston, Cambridge and Newton. In Boston, building owners must report their buildings’ annual energy and water consumption and eventually meet building emissions standards that will decrease over time until reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the City of Boston’s website.

Caramello said it’s still too early in the planning process to know how the policy will explicitly impact Brookline residents and commercial owners’ taxes and operations.

Growing up in the Boston area, Hang Le said she didn’t get to fully experience her Vietnamese culture. She wanted something different for her daughter — so she began her search.

Looking specifically for a Vietnamese-run celebration of Trung Thu, which translates to “mid-autumn,” Le found Little Saigon’s Trung Thu Together festival in Dorchester. Even though this year's harvest moon falls on Oct. 6, the Little Saigon community gathered in Fields Corner  Oct. 4 to celebrate. 

“For me, it’s a chance to celebrate a part of our heritage that growing up in the Boston area, really wasn’t an option,” Le said, who was with her 9-year-old daughter, Collette, watching six children compete in a moon pie eating contest on stage. 

Growing up in Vietnam, Thuy Tran said Trung Thu wasn’t a big deal — only a small occasion for kids to sing and dance with lanterns. But now that she’s older, she said, she understands it differently.  

Celebrated across Asia, the Trung Thu festival traditionally honors the harvest full moon — but really, it’s about something else. 

“It’s just an event for a family reunion,” Tran said, “an occasion for you to enjoy some squid, moon pie and tea.”

Tuan Vu, an artist and project director of 1975 Memorial Project. The community-led initiative aims to uplift the stories of the Vietnamese diaspora, according to their website. Vu said she had a booth at the event to get signatures and garner support to build a memorial statue for the community in Town Field Park.

Vu said her favorite part of the festival is seeing her community “live in action.”

“As a Vietnamese-American, it’s just beautiful to be able to have the space with our community and the greater public to celebrate and honor together,” Vu said. 

About three-quarters of Massachusetts’ Vietnamese community live in Dorchester, concentrated in Fields Corner.

In an attempt to preserve Vietnamese culture, the Boston Little Saigon Cultural District decorated the park with lanterns, played traditional songs, featured dance performances, and hosted moon pie and spicy papaya salad eating contests. At either side of the park stood building-sized inflatables of the moon and Hang Nga, the moon goddess.

“Our goal is just to bring the community together as well as showcase our vendors bringing more visibility to them and also to the Vietnamese culture as well,” said Tina Vo, vendor lead for the cultural district. 

Tents with Vietnamese, Chinese and Filipino food and drinks lined the park’s perimeter. Booths selling jewelry and making crafts sandwiched among them.  

“It brings a lot of local, small business joy to the Dorchester community,” said Celia Ho, working at Kuya’s Cooking’s tent, a Filipino catering company. “We just want to be here to represent Filipino food and support our East Asian community.” 

When Le was a child, she said her parents’ long hours caused celebrations of Trung Thu to get pushed to the side. But, she said, they’d still always share moon pies. 

“It’s something I wanted to share with my daughter,” Le said, interrupted by cheers for the moon pie eating contest winner, “and have that be a part of her identity and upbringing in a way that I would have appreciated for myself.” 

On childhood trips visiting his parents' home in Pakistan, Hessann Farooqi said he remembers noticing connections between his parents' home and his own in the U.S.: visible air pollution, oppressive heat and parks few and far between. Even at such a young age, Farooqi knew these problems weren't coincidences — they were decisions.

Years later, that early clarity informs Farooqi as he leads the Boston Climate Action Network, a grassroots organization that works in tandem with complementary groups to combat climate change and connected social justice issues.

“The way I approach it is: If we have a platform, we have an opportunity to do right by our community, and that’s what I try to do every day,” Farooqi said.

At Farooqi’s core, much like the organization he leads, lies a deep sense of community. 

“So many folks, from people I went to school with at BU, to folks I worked for, to folks in the community, some of whom I don't even know that well, but all of whom were willing to support and invest in me and help push me, hold me accountable and encourage me to take these opportunities.”

As executive director, Farooqi manages the Boston Climate Action Now, organizes strategy and finances, and works on day-to-day activism, which he says gives him “negative time.” However, in those rare spare moments, he’ll unwind by grabbing something to eat with friends, going for a walk at Jamaica Pond or the Greenway and rock climbing when he can — anything he can do to get out into nature, he said. 

While always interested in the environment, Farooqi’s career began with a focus on antitrust regulation. Still, he said, he’s always had an attraction to a behind-the-scenes look at why systemic problems arise — born from his early visits to Pakistan.

“Even as a young child, I think seeing that, you really connect these things together,” Farooqi said. “These are not just some random accidents of nature. These are intentional decisions made, often by governments and corporate interests that they fail to check and balance,” Farooqi said. 

Farooqi took this curiosity to Boston University where he studied economics in hopes of becoming an antitrust lawyer. Involved in the college’s sustainability club, he began to gain an understanding of how institutions shape climate policy. 

Working for political campaigns for the House, Senate, president and Mayor Michelle Wu — who he now works with on the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance Policy Review Board — Farooqi said he gained many of the skills he uses today: getting out into neighborhoods, speaking to city residents and a behind-the-scenes look at what actually goes on in the government. 

Shajahan mentioned Farooqi’s unique world and environmental view — that his goal isn’t to keep fighting the good fight, but to one day eliminate the need for jobs in the field because the problems wouldn’t exist in the first place.

“He’s not just putting a bandage on a bullet hole, I think he also takes into account all the systemic and structural reasons for the issues that he’s advocating for and how that fits into not only our agenda, but also the city’s agenda,” said Ishtiyaq Shajahan, a Boston University senior who interned under Farooqi over the summer.

Many organizations, especially in liberal cities like Boston, are fighting for climate action. But not many emphasize its intersection with social justice.

The Boston Climate Action Network collaborates with organizations focused on housing stability, home weatherization and public school education, among others. 

“Through all of this, I think I really came to understand that, first of all, climate change affects every issue because it affects every person,” Farooqi said.

Kathy Brown, executive director of the Boston Tenants Coalition, said the “key” to climate action is to not compromise equity. An attribute she said Farooqi enacts.

“I love his approach,” Brown said, commenting on Farooqi’s humor and overall warmness to others. “[He’s] just so cognizant of equity and people of color and low income issues and making people feel welcome,” Brown said. 

The Boston Climate Action Now has been active since the early 2000s but, Shajahan said, it wasn’t a “serious force” until Farooqi became the head.

“He tries his best to give a little hope to young people and show them that they actually can affect tangible things,” Shajahan said. 

When asked why he thinks he’s a good fit for heading Boston Climate Action Now, Farooqi said he didn’t expect to become the face of the organization at all, often feeling a sense of  “imposter syndrome” without the years of activism under his belt he observed in the volunteers.

Still, he said, he sees his role as an opportunity to “carry the message” from those around him, and his background adds a new layer to that message. 

“Lots of our members are old, white people, and I love them,” Farooqi said. But that is a messenger that we have had many of and I am obviously very much not that.” 

Shajahan also spoke of Farooqi’s political savviness and ability to connect with people, recalling one instance in July at the Allston-Brighton Progressive Rally. During a speech, a real estate developer from the crowd voiced complaints about environmental regulations. Farooqi, Shajahan said, met his concerns by socratically asking questions until he got to the root of his concerns. 

“He really has a way of empathizing with those other people, even if they come in with explosive rhetoric,” Shajahan said. 

In the seemingly never-ending fight for climate justice, Farooqi said the time is now to join forces and connect with those who came before.

“When people organize, and they get together and they mobilize, that’s when things change,” Farooqi said. Speaking of Boston Climate Action Network volunteers — most of whom in their 60s and 70s, Farooqi said, “it’s only through perhaps the wisdom of their age that they can see that, because they’ve seen it happen before.”